DESIGN NAME: Deathnival
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Education
INSPIRATION: The project It aims to reshape youth's perception of death and reduce anxiety through repackaging death. Inspired by the traditional art form, Danse Macabre and Caitlin Doughty, Deathnival provides an alternative to view this taboo subject with colorful illustration and dark humor. Even though death might be terrifying, learning about it can still be fun.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Deathnival is a Death Education campaign for young adults to explore death. With the false assumption and limited resources on related education programs, Hong Kong young generations lack opportunities to start this essential discussion.
The project consists of three stages. First stage is an interactive quiz to classify the player's death attitude into five categories, each represented by one character. Second stage will be a board game set for participants to explore death trivia with family anywhere, anytime. Finally, the project ended with a social media campaign Deathtalk to let players reflect themselves.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: There are three stages in Deathnival. Firstly, the player will do an interactive quiz to classify the player's death attitude into 5 categories, each represented by one character.
Secondly, the board game set will lead the player through a discussion about death trivia. Players can explore questions like: Is it legal to die at home in Hong Kong? The four categories cover topics from preparation they can do before death to afterlife.
Finally, the project invites players to revise their death attitude after they finish the whole campaign and share their thoughts on social media.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started its research in September 2020, and finished in May 2021 in Hong Kong. It was exhibited in Hong Kong PolyU in June 2021.
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: #Grafitti Diamond Paper for Package
#Coptic Stitch, Laser Printing for Game Book
#Plywood with Laser Cut for Avatars
#Photo Paper with Laser Printing for Game Map
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Packed: width 230 mm x depth 60 mm x height 200 mm
Displayed: width 400 mm x depth 80 mm x height 30 mm
TAGS: Death, Illustration, Black Humor, Board Game, Graphic Design
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: The lack of social support makes it hard for Hong Kong to overcome grief. As suggested by interviewees, the public lacks the means to understand death, which makes them less prepared for bereavement. This project started as research about grief and ended up with death education. The research covers three aspects: local grief experience, the public perspective of death, and the effectiveness of current death education programs. Questionnaires are given to the target group, who is 18-35 years old. There are interviews with local death education program hosts and grief counseling centers. Major reasons behind the insufficiency are false perception towards death and low accessibility of death education schemes. The Chinese Tradition and image portrayed by media make respondents found it offensive to raise the subject. Local programs are unable to provide enough vacancy to the public and have to end their service due to lack of funding. Not to mention many of these program are experience-based without solid information.
CHALLENGE: RESEARCH: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the local death education programs are closed which makes the process harder. I have to interview the program hosts instead. Yet since many programs are experience-based, like visiting the cemetery, there are flaws in such investigation.
CREATIVE: The traditional Chinese concept of death is unarguably negative to the locals. One of the biggest challenges is to repackage these elements into something people feel less anxious about. Instead of rebuilding the image of something terrifying, the design picks an alternative perspective to view the subject by letting players understand interesting death trivia like what happens when people die in space?
ADDED DATE: 2021-06-25 14:48:29
TEAM MEMBERS (1) :
IMAGE CREDITS: #1:Jacques Offenbach/ Can Can/ 1840s
#2: Jonas Jansen, Christian Schulz-Quach, Nikolett Eisenbeck, David F. Carreno, Andrea Schmitz, Rita Fountain, Matthias Franz, Ralf Schäfer, Paul T. P. Wong & Katharina Fetz/German version of the Death Attitudes Profile- Revised /2019
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